Pennsylvania Quotes
Most people are very surprised that the great Benjamin Franklin was so narrow-minded at one point in his life. The German immigration almost halted during the Seven Years War, and the influx of Germans to Pennsylvania did not resume at the same rate.
The issue of who should vote in the new United States was a contentious one. Some thought that only people with a certain amount of property should vote because the poor did not have anything to protect. Franklin had even suggested that the House be elected by most men and the Senate by the rich. Actually, for many years Senators were perceived as the representatives of the wealthy compared to the house which represented the common people. The model most people knew then was the English Parliament where the House of Commons represented the common people and the House of Lords represented the nobility which was also an economic aristocracy.
The only previous source of light in America had been whale oil or candles—both very expensive. Oil was discovered in Pennsylvania and refinery techniques developed to produce Kerosene. (Gasoline was too explosive and dangerous for home use.) Everyone’s standard of living depended on Kerosene at the time and John D. Rockefeller controlled the price everywhere except New York. There were no monopoly or antitrust laws when he gobbled up his competitors and he rapidly became the richest man in America and one of the most hated. His abuse of the system at the time led to the government regulation of monopolies and the antitrust laws. It was very courageous for the Atlantic Monthly to publish this article, as Rockefeller’s power extended all over the nation—but less in New York where the magazine was published.
This was just the beginning of the vast emigration from Ireland to America and elsewhere.
Mittleberger wrote a treatise warning his countrymen of the problems in Pennsylvania where many German youth were coming as indentured servants and apprentices.
The Quakers were in the forefront of not only the abolition of slavery but of the integration of the races.
She had petitioned for a recount of the close elections in Pennsylvania, and two other states, However, the arcane Pennsylvania election laws together with an inclination on the part of election officials in Pennsylvania not to do a recount, produced a process that was really ineffective as a check on the original vote and any errors that might ahve been made. In general, state election officials do not like recounts in Presidential elections. If the results were wrong and the stat's electoral votes should have gone to another, the politics of the state are destabilized and tust in the state election system is seriously eroded, and they are blamed. However, even if the results are not reversed, typically totals for a number of districts change and they are called upon to explain the discrepency which most often is attributed to weaknesses in the system which do not sufficiently eliminate human error, There are calls for investigations and the consequences continue, often for years. Most scientists studying the various state election processes, agree that some states systems are very weak, and there are many errors in elections, but they are rarely of sufficient magnitude toe change the results of the election. Reform of the system in many states and local areas becasue most politicans are reluctant to spemd more money on the election processes and system.
The Iroquois had a very successful confederacy of 6 tribes in a relatively democratic government with a written constitution. They dominated the Eastern part of North America for years. The were able to maintain a permanent unity with a unified and decentralized combination of government—much like the United States would become. At the time of this advice, each American colony was a government unto itself. The three Iroquois Indian delegates were Canassatego, Tachanoontia, and Gachradodow.
Mittleberger wrote a treatise warning his countrymen of the problems in Pennsylvania where many German youth were coming as indentured servants and apprentices.
During the 1860 Republican nominating convention, following the custom of the time, neither Lincoln or the odds on favorite, William H. Seward, were even in Chicago. Lincoln's campaign managers wired him regarding a possible deal with Simon Cameron to obtain the votes of the Pennsylvania delegation:. Lincoln's managers were incredulous. Without bargains there was no way Lincoln stood a chance. They decided that Lincoln didn't really mean what he had said but was only "covering himself" for the record. They proceeded to deal with Cameron as well as trade for most of the prospective cabinet and some Federal judgeships as well. Lincoln won and honored all the bargains when he became president.
